Samsung brings femtocell to Verizon

The Extender can boost indoor call quality.

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung announced Monday that it's bringing its femtocell base station to Verizon Wireless. The Verizon Wireless Extender is similar to the Sprint Airave, which Samsung introduced last year. It acts as a miniature cell phone tower by boosting indoor cell phone coverage where the normal Verizon signal may not reach.

The Extender requires a normal power outlet and a home broadband Internet connection. If you're on the phone and you leave the house, your call will switch automatically between the Extender's coverage area and Verizon's standard network. It costs more than most Verizon handsets ($249), but unlike with Sprint's Airave, Verizon doesn't gouge you for monthly fees after the initial investment.

[Berke.h]

It's not made clear but I believe this device doesn't work as an actual extender, but rather a switcher for voip calls over wi-fi.

Personally I would not prefer a real cellular antenna in my house, (for the much alleged heath risks). If it's switching seamlessly to wi-fi voice connection where the cell signal is weak, it is very impressive.

[liberty1971]

Considering that most VzW phones do not support WiFi, this is like having your own cellular/PCS antenna in your house. It uses your existing cable/DSL internet connection to backhaul (via VPN?) into VzW's network. In your house, your phone gets its "signal" from this device as if it were communicating with a real tower. Once you leave the house, it switches back to the macro network. Samsung's device however only supports 3G1X and not EVDO. T-Mobile's devices, I believe, support WiFi calls as you mention using UMA

Instead of improving coverage and building penetration that everyone is already paying for via their (crappy and expensive) plans, VzW and Sprint both gouge customers in their own way: Either a costly device at $249 or a extra monthly fee. Having this capability using WiFi would be much cheaper and more cost effective realizing the large WiFi penetration throughout the US. Keep the femto, and develop a CDMA-WiFi interworking device.

[twofingerpoi]

This device works with standard Verizon CDMA phones, like a mini cell tower, to extend signals into the home/office up to 5000 ft. It relies on the internet for backhaul into the Verizon network. This reduces the carrier (Verizon) expense for backhaul network from the tower to their network. They also don't have to invest in additional towers to expand coverage and in-building penetration, so this is a benefit to VZW. It doesn't use WiFi, nor does the Sprint device/service, but the similar device/service from T-Mobile does use WiFi and requires WiFi capable handsets. Ultimately the consumer is paying for the poor wireless spectrum management by the FCC and the poor tower coverage by the wireless carriers.

[Eludium-Q36]

Kent said "but unlike with Sprint's Airave, Verizon doesn't gouge you for monthly fees after the initial investment."

Are you new to covering this industry, Kent ?! Sprint isn't the one that gouges, it's VZN with the nickel/dime you to death policy. Sprint's Airave is only $99 IF - repeat IF - you even have to buy it ! Many get it at no charge. And even IF you pay for it it's still $150 (!) less than VZN's, and with a paltry $5/mon fee the out of pocket cost takes 30 freakin months to catch up to VZN's Day One cost!

You either need to do better industry analysis or take Econ 101 at a community college because your uninformed critique of Sprint's "gouging" is just plain journalistic ignorance and/or ridiculously biased VZN-fanboyism.

[mcnevich]

Just got my Verizon Network Extender from FedEx. Hooked it up in a few minutes, then it took about 10 minutes for the unit to acquire a GPS signal and download all of the settings it needed. I normally get 0-1 bars on my bottom floor, 1 bar on the second floor, and 2 bars on the top floor of my house. Now I'm getting 4 solid bars everywhere in the house, out by my car, out on the deck--I am one happy camper! Luckily I didn't pay full price. I kept complaining to customer service about the poor quality of the service I was getting so they took 25% off. If you get one, I highly recommend once the unit is up and running to go in to your verizon account online--go to "servies" and choose "network extender"--the unit default is set on OPEN which means anybody in about a 1 mile radius can use your network extender (up to 50 callers at a time). Change the settings to CLOSED and add just the numbers of the phones you want to be able to use the extender. Note that anyone that needs to make a 911 call will still be able to using your extender even if they're not on your list of approved numbers (good feature).

[cverbil]

Your Extender unit can only handle three simultaneous callers, but if you close the open access than you can have 50 authorized users. Even when the Extended is closed, you still can only have three simultaneous calls - but now it must be from your whitelist of 50 "approved" users.

[Paul 99]

Verizon requires that you can connect via GPS in order to use the internet extender. My office is in the basement and there's no line of sight for the GPS to connect. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[mcnevich]

The unit comes with a GPS wire that hooks from the unit to the nearest window. I didn't have to use it because I have a skylight in the same room, but looking at the GPS wire I think you would have to either get a longer GPS wire OR put the unit on the main floor (if you can hook it up via ethernet on that floor). My unit gives me 4 bars of strength on every one of my three stories, plus a few hundred feet all around the outside of the house. I would recommend putting it on anther floor besides the basement if possible.